Helping Your Child Develop Solid Study Skills

Teaching our children solid study skills is a very important life skill. Learning this skill now will serve them throughout their education career. Here are some strategies to help your child develop strong study skills.

Teaching a child to learn how to study effectively is really useful! Sometimes we forget we have to help our child develop solid study skills, so as they grow they will know how to study and really retain the information! Below you will find some strategies to help your child develop strong study skills, you can choose ones on which to try for your child.

We have to remember that each child learns a little bit different, so what works for one child might not be the best strategy for another. Trial and error works good here. Look over the list and try a few of the strategies and see if your child is able to catch on with what you are trying to teach. Maybe read a chapter out of a book to test and see if they did take proper notes, or do they understand the proper items they should be writing down for later. This is a great way to really see first hand if your child is grasping what you are teaching!

Study Skills 101

Organization

I can’t stress this one enough, and that is why it is on the top of the list. It is too easy to create a mess, and making sure you have things organized will allow your child to really focus on the task at hand. Find a clean place for your child to work, free from distractions. Then create a folder or create a list of items that your child needs to work on, assignments, etc. Then review the list or folder, and show them to work with one item at a time. Closest deadline item first, and then so-on. Close the folder and just have the one worksheet or task they need to accomplish out in front of them.

Learning Style

Try and figure out your child’s learning style if you don’t know it already. Does your child work best when they write out items on note cards to use for flashcards later to study? Maybe they are more hands on, and do better when they read themselves instead of being read to. Try and see which method your child is able to absorb the information the easiest. Some kids learn in a variety of ways, and if that is the case that is great! Just try to pinpoint how they learn, so when you sit down to teach them, you can really allow them to get the maximum amount of information from the curriculum.

Schedule Study Time

Help your child find the time to study! Pencil in study time just like you would any other subject they are learning for the day. Make sure that they have the right amount of time to sit down and study over any subjects, work on flash cards, or finish up some homework they didn’t get to earlier in the day. Just pencil in the time, so your child knows the schedule. Children love to have a schedule, and this way they know what is coming up next and can prepare.

Positive Thinking

Teaching your child to be optimistic in school work is imperative. Encourage your child to think positive thoughts, and they will be amazed at what they can accomplish. Help them to realize they are smart, and they can learn and do anything they set their minds too!

Extra Help

If you see your child is struggling to grasp the concept of say their History worksheet, make sure to take the time to sit down and really go over it with them. Help them to try and find a way to understand the work a little easier. As parents we need to take the time to sit down and help them work through things, and find the solution! This takes patience, and dedication, but know it will really help them in the long run.